I’ve been in a bit of a trace-your-roots mode the last few weeks, most probably because I’m away from home and like what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. As a result I’ve been researching up on different Asian – or more specifically Singaporean – dishes and desserts. I’ve got all these soups, kuehs and noodle dishes sitting on my to-cook list, waiting for any occasion to come by that will give me the perfect excuse to make them (e.g. Bible study group meetings)!

So two Saturdays ago, I tried my hand at making kueh salat, a Nonya dessert consisting of a glutinous rice cake at the bottom and a kaya custard layer at the top. I’ve eaten it as a kid, having grown up on Bengawan Solo kuehs, but I never really craved it. I suppose I attempted making it more out of curiosity, but it turned out to be quite a brilliant attempt! Actually, I made two attempts; once on Friday, and another on Saturday to correct all the “errors” on the first attempt. Kudos to the recipe since it obviously didn’t require much technique as the more delicate desserts do, but the portioning of the custard (in the recipe) was overestimated and was enough to make two cakes (hence the second attempt as well).

All in all, it wasn’t at as much difficult as it was tedious as I had to soak the rice, steam it, fluff it, steam again, compress the rice, steam it yet again, then make the custard and steam again…you get the idea. It’s definitely something worth making if you have a big party of Asians who’d appreciate it, because my unsuspecting Bible study group mates are quite easily wowed.

Next up on my list is lapis sagu, or what the Malaysians call kueh lapis, which I’d probably attempt for this Saturday’s Bible study!